Leelakrishnan dominates ITC; Jinkawa wins thrilling MRF 1600 race

Buddh International Circuit, 14 Sept 2013: Japanese driver Yudai Jinkawa won a thrilling MRF 1600 race ahead of Vikash Anand and Tarun Reddy (later given a jumpstart penalty) with the top 3 being separated by 3 tenths off a second at the chequered flag. The final round of the MMSC-FMSCI National Racing Championship took place at the Buddh International Circuit at Greater Noida with most drivers driving here for the first time. N Leelakrishnan held off reigning champion Arjun Balu to win by 3.030seconds in the Indian Touring Car category while Ananth Pitawala claimed his first ever win in the Indian Junior Touring Car category. Diljith won Race 1 while youngster Akhil Rabindra won Race 2 of the Toyota EMR Trophy.

The opening race, the Toyota EMR Trophy had Diljith, who started on pole position, lead from start to finish to take a dominant win. Akhil Rabindra managed to hold off Abhinay Bikkani to finish in second place, 7.716 seconds behind the leader. Varun Anekar finished in 4th place after a race long battle with Akhil and Abhinay.  

In the ITC race, Leelakrishnan started on pole and had a good start off the line. Arjun Balu started slow but just managed to hold off a charging M Sivaramakrishnan behind him. Leelakrishnan pulled a 2 second lead in the first two laps and managed to keep the gap for the rest of the race. Arjun went faster as the race went on setting his fastest lap off the race on the second last lap. Sivaramakrishnan had a lonely race in third as he finished 13.317 seconds behind the leader.

The next race was the most exciting with the MRF 1600 on track. Yudai, starting on pole, had a great start and went into the lead with Tarun and Vikash right behind him. Tarun and Vikash had a great battle for the first 3 laps with the latter finally getting past in the mid-sector. Vikash then started to reel Yudai in bringing Tarun with him and was right on his tail with three laps to go. Vikash drove brilliantly and tried to pass Yudai several times but could not find a way past. The top three finally finished within a mere 0.307 seconds separating them. Tarun was later given a penalty for jumping the start and ended up in 5th place with Advait Deodhar moving up to the final podium spot. Adavit, Kizuka Hirota and Masaki Fujimura had their own battle trading places throughout the race.

The final race of the day was Race 2 of the Toyota EMR Trophy with Akhil Rabindra taking his first victory. It was the closest Toyota race with 1 second separating the top 4 at the chequered flag. Akhil and Diljith started in 7th & 8th position and worked their way through field. Akhil had a better start and was upto 4th position by lap 3. He then passed Varun Aneakr to move into 2nd place before passing Farhan Ahmed to take the lead. Diljith moved up to 3rd position and tried hard to pass Farhan for 2nd place but ran out of laps.

Results: Race 1, Toyota EMR: 1. Diljith; 2. Akhil Rabindra; 3. Varun Anekar.

Race 2, ITC: 1. N Leelakrishnan; 2. Arjun Balu; 3. M Sivaramakrishnan.

Race 3, Indian Junior Touring Cars: 1. Ananth Pitawala; 2. VJ Senthil; 3. Charen Chandran.

Race 4, MRF 1600: 1. Yudai Jinkawa; 2. Vikash Anand; 3. Advait Deodhar.

Race 5, Toyota EMR: 1. Akhil Rabindra; 2. Farhan Ahmed; 3. Diljith.

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